Fierce Hatred
by SF3P0X1
Summary: Meet Shinji Ikari - 15 year old hothead. His entire life he's spent training and keeping busy, trying to ignore the fact that he was abandoned by his father at three years old. He was adopted into a clan of strange monkey-men, beings with whom he himself maintained a strange resemblance... and now he's been summoned by his father. The father who is now powerless against him.
1. Chapter 1

The letter held only a single word: Come. No greeting, no sincerely, not even a signature at the bottom. Just a piece of paper with a bunch of blacked-out lines and a single visible word.

_Come._

The young boy stood at the bus stop, waiting for his transport to Tokyo-3. He simply stared at the paper, his insides seething. He had half a mind to refuse the order, to wait until his father came and got him, but he knew it would be a futile effort. If there was anything his father was good at, it was having backup plans and replacements.

His mother had died years ago. She had been a proud woman, intelligent, virtuous. He barely remembered her face, and the last memory he had of her was framed with the bones of giants. He remembered seeing her from above, catching snippets of conversation around him about being a nuisance, and then a flash of white light and silence.

The bus pulled up to the stop and broke him of his reverie. He took one last glance at the paper in his hand, then tore it into pieces and boarded the transport. He'd go, but he'd make his displeasure known as soon as he could.

"_At 12:30pm today, a special emergency has been declared for the Tokai and Kanto regions of Tokyo-3. Please go to your designated shelters at this time."_

The announcement blared over and over from loudspeakers and megaphones positioned throughout the city. The ordered boy stood at a pay phone, holding the receiver with a deadpan face. The audio erupting from the phone repeated the same announcement as was blaring from the speakers.

He hung up the receiver in frustration. "Figures. No organization at all in this city. That announcement does little for us visitors with no designation!"

He held up the postcard he had received in the mail with the disappointing letter. It featured an attractive woman who was obviously flirting with the cameraman, and scribbled over the image was a reassurance that she would be picking him up, as well as an arrow pointing into her noticeable cleavage and a message to pay attention. Every time he looked at the photo, he rolled his eyes.

"The father that doesn't want anything to do with his son, and now a flirt who can't even arrive on time! What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and for a brief moment he caught a glimpse of a blue-haired girl in a schoolgirl's uniform. She was standing in the middle of the road, staring at him. A shock wave of unknown source ruffled the feathers of a group of nearby pigeons, causing them to flutter away in alarm, and the movement took his attention away from the blue haired spectre for only a moment, but when he turned his eyes back to the spot she was in, she had all but disappeared.

Then he felt it.

A power level of immeasurable strength registered within his cells mere moments before the missiles roared overhead. Even before looking up, he knew the enemy they were directed towards was of the giant variety. A Kaiju, a monster on scale with the old Godzilla movies of the 70's. The boy could feel the hairs at the back of his neck tingling, and a mysterious sense of overwhelming joy rising in his gut.

He followed the missiles' trajectory, his eyes coming to rest on the enormous figure before him just before their impact. He went to throw up a ki shield for protection, but the screech of tires on asphalt caught his attention as a blue Renault skidded between himself and the monstrosity. The passenger door flew open and a female voice yelled at him to get in.

He didn't have to be told twice. He was in the car, seatbelt on, in seconds, and the car zoomed away moments before the Kaiju's foot came crashing down on the very spot the two of them had been lurking. Had either of them been a second or two slower, the both of them would have been little more than a blood splatter on the ground beneath its feet.

The two of them zoomed away to a spot in the nearby mountains, neither saying much to the other. The female parked in a good vantage point to the battle going on in the middle of the city, pulled out a pair of binoculars, and watched carefully. The boy, on the other hand, was already out of the car, standing on the driver's side so that the vehicle was between himself and the monster. He seemed to be in a meditative trance, and should the female have looked, she would have seen the air about the boy twisting and churning like water.

The view through the binoculars changed suddenly, all the fighters around the monster suddenly pulling away, and the female panicked. "They're gonna use an N2 mine! Get down!" She made to jump on the boy and cover him in defense, but as the sky lit up in a bright white light, she realized he wasn't in the car. She could do naught but brace for impact, praying the boy was smart enough to take cover.

The shock wave took seconds to reach the two of them. Under any normal circumstances, the car would have been picked up and tossed away by the sheer power of the explosion, rolling and tumbling through the sand, perhaps coming to rest on its side a few hundred meters from their original point. But this time, the car's trajectory was halted by the ki shield thrown up by the young man just outside the car. It rattled and rumbled and threw around the passenger inside a little bit, but when the dust finally settled, the car had little more than a few scratches and dents on it, and its singular occupant appeared shaken but completely unhurt.

The officer behind the wheel raised her head, looking behind her at the grinning face of the young man who had, somehow, managed to survive the explosion unharmed. He slowly walked around to the passenger side of the car, once again getting in and belting up. The young woman's jaw dropped at the boy's unruffled appearance, and in the back of her mind she began to wonder who this kid was, and how dangerous he might be.

She kept these concerns to herself, obviously, and instead kept a smile on her face and a lightness in her speech. She introduced herself as Misato Katsuragi, and he introduced himself as Shinji. She asked him questions about his relationship with his father, and about the life he led while separated from the man, and though he seemed open enough, the kid was obviously keeping some of the details to himself. In turn, she answered his questions about where they were going and what his purpose was in coming to Tokyo-3, but kept some of the more confidential things to herself. In all honesty, she had absolutely no idea why his coming to NERV was so crucial at this point in time. She was more focused on why another Kaiju was attacking, nearly fifteen years after the first one. It felt like an odd time gap.

The car entered into a tunnel, then came to rest on a vehicle transport. The transport began moving downward into the ground, and as they exited the tunnel, the boy gasped.

"Wow! It's a real geofront!" he exclaimed, while one miss Misato Katsuragi grinned.

It had been a while since she had seen such a response to the reveal of the geofront. After a while of living and working within it, one tends to take for granted the majesty of the world around them. She explained about the headquarters of NERV, the company his father had built. She confirmed his suspicions about working for his father, and fielded questions about pay rates, schooling, and various other details.

Another hour of travel found the pair lost amidst the labyrinth of hallways and byways deep within NERV HQ. Misato continued to make excuses about still being new at the HQ, but Shinji could tell they were just excuses. They passed the same hallway three times before Misato admitted defeat, finally making a call on radio for help. The call was answered when they finally found an elevator. The doors opened to reveal a colleague of Misato's, who introduced herself as Doctor Ritsuko. She was very stern and matter-of-factly, preferring to forego as much social interaction as possible in favor of passing a thick handbook to Shinji and berating Misato for _again_ getting lost.

Shinji leafed through the handbook, paying close attention to the black lines and censors throughout it. He thought to himself that if the company was going to waste that much space to say that its normal employees weren't allowed to know certain bits of information, wouldn't it just be easier to make several different handbooks for the different levels of clearance? The one in his hand could have easily been half the weight it was in saved ink alone.

He was finished with the book in less time than would probably be expected of him; he was a quick reader, and his comprehension scores were off the charts. In fact, the young man had stuffed the handbook into his belt and was silently following the pair of adults, saying not a single word but keeping up with their technical conversation as if he had been privy to their jobs all his life. When the room around him suddenly went pitch black, he realized he had been caught off-guard, and kicked himself for it.

The lights turned on and there, staring back at him, was a gigantic purple and gray face. It looked like a humanoid dragon made of metal, and he would have exclaimed if he had not already been scolding himself. Another light clicked on, though faintly, and Shinji heard the voice he had been anticipating with dread for so long.

"Hello, boy." Ikari Gendo stood, arms crossed, at a window far above Shinji's eye level. His face stern, his eyes hidden behind reflective lenses, the man stared emotionless at the boy below him.

Shinji, in turn, stared back up at the man he was forced to call his father. The look on his face was far from emotionless, however. His eyes were filled with what looked like seething hatred. "Gendo," he replied, his voice just above a whisper. He clenched his fist and was briefly tempted to blast the window with ki, but his hatred was interrupted by a large explosion. Tremors reached deep within the HQ and shook the floor upon which the boy was standing.

"It's found us!"

"We're doomed!"

Various other lamentations were released from the mouths of nameless workers stationed about the warehouse-sized room. The only faces that remained unchanged were those of Shinji and Gendo, both still locked on to each other. Surprisingly, it was Gendo who looked away first, if only for the moments it took to order NERV personnel to ready Unit 01 for docking and deployment. It was long enough for Shinji to grin in victory.

"Who will we get to pilot it?" Misato's voice seemed scared, her inquisitive nature not strong enough to cover her deep-seated self-serving sanctity of life. "Rei is still injured, and the dummy plug system hasn't shown satisfactory test results yet!"

Gendo's voice sounded loud in the room, and his answer silenced everyone. "A spare pilot has just arrived."

It was a minute or two before anyone spoke. "You called me here to give me a giant robot in the hopes that I'll keep that Kaiju outside from destroying your precious company? You're funny, old man."

Gendo didn't laugh. "You'll pilot it, or the world is destroyed."

"Your world, maybe."

He sighed, then turned to the monitor on the wall to his left. "Fuyutsuki, the spare is unusable. Wake Rei."

A skinny, white-haired man looked at Gendo, his face visibly wrinkled. "Can we use her?"

Gendo smirked. "She's not dead yet."

Another screen turned on, though it only showed orange with the words 'Audio Only' in bold black letters at the bottom. Gendo spoke towards it. "Rei."

"Yes," came a monotone voice on the other side.

"The spare is useless. You will do it again."

"Yes," came the reply.

Shinji chuckled. "I'm just a spare, huh? Fuck you, old man."

Doors behind Shinji opened up, and a stretcher rolled into the room. Upon it was a blue-haired girl remarkably similar to the one Shinji saw in town at the beginning of this fiasco. She seemed to be in pain, and struggled to raise herself up to her elbows. Shinji grew angry at the way his father sought to use this girl. She was a human being, not a tool!

The building rattled as another explosion tore through the facility, this time breaching its armor plating and threatening to bring the building down around their fragile forms. A steel beam came loose from the roof and began to fall towards the stretcher, and Shinji dashed forward to save the girl from being killed. His hand came up and he fired a ki blast at the beam, knocking it away from the stretcher and towards the robot, who also seemed to be raising its hand in defense.

"The Eva moved! Was it moving to defend Shinji?"

"The Eva nothing! What the hell did _Shinji_ do?!"

All the commotions was forgotten as Shinji knelt to pick the girl up off the floor. He brought her up to a sitting position and growled when she began spasming in pain. She soon passed out in his arms, and he turned to look at the robot.

"... fine. I'll pilot your stupid weapon."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, readers! Know what? This is the first story I've posted here that acquired a review within the first couple of days of posting. It's a neat feeling, knowing people are actually reading and enjoying my work. Thanks for that.**

**So, a Guest said they enjoyed the chapter, but that it felt "rushed." I'm guessing that means that it feels like I'm rushing through the timeline. Well... I am. I'm trying to touch on the important parts while at the same time not writing a piece that makes you read for two hours what the anime shows in half an hour. I also have a personal writing problem of being too detailed, and it causes lots and lots of writer's block and I'd like to avoid that.**

**I'll try to slow down in the future. I can't make any promises, but I'll try. In any case, thanks for reading. :)**

Shinji felt slightly perturbed. First they stuck him in this long tube that felt like a missile, but without any propulsion system. The seat was comfortable, but it didn't make up for the feeling of drowning in orange Tang. Well, blood-flavored orange Tang.

That was scary. He was sitting in his seat trying to get comfortable when he heard a rushing noise and felt something wet begin soaking the bottoms of his slacks. When he complained, he was told to 'grow up' and not worry.

"Breathe it in. Let the LCL fill your lungs. It will oxygenate your blood from within. It's meant to cushion the body from the shock of combat," Dr. Akagi had explained.

"It smells like blood. Tastes like it too. Lesser soldiers would be sick right now," he'd fired back.

"Well, try to hold back your bile. We don't have any systems for expelling the expelled."

Then came the waiting. Electronics kicked on, orders were given, locks were dislodged. It wasn't until he felt the platform moving the Eva to the launchpad that a thought occurred to him.

"What do you want me to do when I get up there?"

"For now," Dr. Akagi answered, "concentrate on walking."

"Wait... walk? That's it?"

"Pretty much."

"You called me all the way from training in the open wilderness to the middle of this warzone, placed me in some high-tech giant robot, and are having me go up and face this Kaiju-"

"Angel," Misato interrupted.

"... Kaiju. Alone. And all you want me to do is walk?"

"... yes."

"You don't have any other advice for me except 'walk'."

"What other advice do you expect us to give you?"

"I don't know!" Shinji shouted. "How about 'defend yourself'? How about 'don't die'? Hell, I'd even go for a corny 'do your best' right about now! You'd think with all the planning and resources you guys are privy to, what with being able to build a giant weapon like this, and this base, you might have at least a little foresight to install a program or two that would help me learn to fight in this thing. All I have are a lounging pilot's seat and two triggers that move back and forth! How do I use this crap to fight? Where are my body controls? In the same vein, how the hell do you expect me to move?!"

"Shinji, the clips in your hair help to amplify your thoughts into the machine. If you think it, you will it. Your will causes the machine to move. The triggers are for more minute movements, like fingers."

Shinji sighed. "And all you want me to do is walk?"

Dr. Akagi nodded, even though Shinji couldn't see it, but it was Misato who spoke his answer. "... yes. Launch!"

Shinji's neck snapped back into the pilot's seat as the platform upon which the Eva stood was magnetically propelled upwards. He felt like his brain was moving into his feet. The G's that held him in place now would release him as soon as the robot stopped, and that worried him. Was he going to leave the pilot's seat and splatter into the ceiling of the entry plug?

Within a minute, the robot shot from the warehouse below to the street above. When Shinji opened his eyes, his robot stood still, facing the enemy in front of him. The Kaiju's beaked head cocked sideways to look at him, as if it was not expecting resistance to its bold assault.

When Shinji was at the feet of the monster, he hadn't had any time to really study the creature. Now that he was face to face with it, however, he could take in all the details. It was a massive, hulking monster, humanoid in form, all in black, with a white head that resembled a bird. Its arms were almost the length of its entire body. In the center of the mass was something Shinji could only identify as a blood orb, and he figured that should be his main target. It was protected by a rib cage that protruded from the being's body.

"Shinji, just concentrate on walking for now." The voice of Dr. Akagi echoed through the cockpit and disrupted his thoughts amidst the sounds of locks disengaging.

"No," Shinji replied.

"No? What do you mean, no?"

Shinji didn't answer. To the viewers below the street, EVA-01 straightened up from it's hunched-over lumbering posture. It assumed a fighting stance, left arm extended, right arm pulled in tight against its chest. Its knees were slightly bent, shoulder width apart. It maintained this posture, waiting for the right time to strike... or defend.

The Angel stared down the Eva, and the Eva stared down the Angel. Nothing happened for a few minutes. All was still; even the wind seemed afraid to blow. Shinji closed his eyes and concentrated on keeping his heart rate relaxed. It would do no good to be distracted.

He opened his eyes to the sight of the Angel right in his face, its arms outstretched. It lunged at him, and he willed the machine to duck. The Eva dropped to its knees, and then launched itself upwards, driving its right fist into what would be the stomach of the Angel overhead. The Angel was launched several hundred feet into the air, and the Eva followed, front flipping and driving the heel of its right foot into the spine of the Angel.

The Angel crashed into the ground, unable to catch itself. It tried to push itself up on its hands and knees, but Shinji and his war machine would have none of that. He landed on the back of the Angel, driving both heels into its spine as he did so. The Angel lay there for a second and then bucked, throwing the Eva off of its body and rolling away.

Shinji landed several blocks away, on his back. The group of buildings around him crumpled into dust as he impacted them. He tried to get up, but the Eva refused to move. His heart was racing; this enemy was far more powerful and far more resistant than he had first estimated. He continued to try to will the machine to move, but the Eva did little more than vibrate in place. The Angel, now on its feet, moved towards Shinji with its head cocked to the side, its fists clenching and unclenching as it moved.

The Angel stopped at the Eva's feet and bent over, grabbing its head with its right hand and lifting the Eva off the ground almost effortlessly. Shinji saw a light begin to glow in the palm of the holding hand, and instinctively braced for impact. A dagger of light shot out and impacted the skull casing over and over, rattling Shinji each time it connected. Shinji continued to move the both triggers and extend his will, but the Eva continued to refuse to move for him.

"Shinji, get out of there!" came the frantic voice of Misato over the radio.

"I'm trying! It won't... fucking... move!"

"He's a sitting duck!" Misato turned to Ritsuko in a panic. "What can we do? There's gotta be something we can do for him!"

Ritsuko shook her head. "Something is interrupting his synchronization. There's nothing we _can_ do."

Over and over the dagger impacted the Eva's skull, until fractures began to form. Shinji watched as the screen in front of him cracked and splintered, and became increasingly angry. His head hurt from the damage to his Eva. He held his head, shouting and swearing at the Eva, trying to break through whatever barrier it was that was holding him back.

"Move, damn you!" He threw all of his might into the triggers, and focused all of his concentration on defending himself. "_Move or I die!_"

That seemed to do it. As the dagger of light retreated into the Angel's hand once more, Shinji felt the robot come to life once again. The Eva brought its hands up and grasped the Angel by the wrist, then swung its feet up and over the shoulders of the Angel, on either side of its head. Shinji locked the Eva's legs around the Angel's head, then simultaneously wrenched the Eva's head from the Angel's grip and flipped backwards, tossing the Angel head over heels into a row of buildings behind them.

Shinji's Eva stood and turned, looking into the cloud of dust for its adversary. A shadow rose from the dust and walked out into the open. The Angel looked battered, but it obviously wasn't beaten. Its right arm hung limp at its side, the wrist folded at an odd angle. A couple of the ribs protecting the blood orb had cracked and broken, leaving his target a bit more vulnerable.

Shinji shot forward to strangle the Angel, but slammed into an invisible wall that seemed to shimmer in different colors. He punched and kicked at it, but the barrier seemed impenetrable. He grunted in frustration.

"What is this?! Misato, Dr. Akagi, why can't I hit it?!"

"It's an AT field," explained the doctor.

"I don't care what it is! How do I get past it?"

The Eva seemed to answer that question for him by taking control of itself at that moment. Its jaw opened wide and it let loose an ethereal scream that seemed to pierce into the very depths of Shinji's soul. Shinji could do nothing but sit there helplessly as the Eva clawed at the barrier, at first doing nothing, and then causing the wall of colors to warp and bend.

"How are you doing that?" Misato asked.

"I'm not, it's controlling itself!" came Shinji's puzzled reply.

"_Berserker,"_ Ritsuko remarked to herself. _"We've done it."_

The AT field blocking Shinji's assault finally gave under the ambush of the Eva, dissolving into shreds. The Eva stared down the Angel and roared, and the Angel seemed to cower in fear for a moment before launching itself headfirst at the Eva.

Shinji felt control slip back into his hands, and his first instinct was to sidestep the Angel, grabbing its right arm and pinning it behind its back. The Angel fired another light digger from the palm of its restrained hand and it managed to catch Shinji's Eva in the shoulder, causing Shinji to roar with pain. Grasping the wrist of the captured arm with his right hand, Shinji simultaneously pulled upwards on the Angel's arm while pressing downwards on the Angel's left shoulder, and he heard a satisfying pop and snap as the Angel's right arm popped from its socket and its left shoulder broke.

He grabbed the Angel by the back of the neck and pulled on its wounded arm, using one of his feet for leverage. After a minute, the arm ripped from the Angel's body. The momentum caused the Angel to spin around and face Shinji, where its face met with its own arm via baseball swing. The Angel flew backwards and landed on its back, thrashing and screaming, the air filled with blood like rain.

Shinji jumped from where he stood and landed on the Angel, driving both of the Eva's feet into the creature's stomach. He began to swing the captured arm down into the Angel's face. Over and over he swung the appendage into the enemy, until its own facemask started to crack. Shinji then tossed the arm away and reached down, grasped the blood-colored sphere in the Angels' body, and tried to pull it free.

This obviously agitated the Angel. It reached up and grabbed Shinji's Eva by the head, then locked its body onto the robot and detonated itself. An explosion marked by a gigantic cross of light incinerated the area around them, and blood started to fall like rain. When the dust cleared, only the Eva remained.

EVA-01 screamed into the night, echoing its pilot's crazed shouts of victory.


	3. Intermission

The last thing Shinji remembered was fighting off NERV personnel as they tried to escort him to the hospital ward. He was vomitting his guts out, emptying his body of the LCL he had been forced to ingest without a single warning. He dropped to a knee, heaving, and blacked out.

He woke a few hours later, lying in a white gown, in a white bed, in a white room. He felt so stiff. Shinji had never experienced so much adrenaline in a fight – nor so much pain. He may not have broken anything, but he sure felt battered and bruised. That LCL stuff didn't do much for the actual shock of battle.

He laid there, staring at a ceiling he didn't recognize, imagining the night sky and the brightest stars. He closed his eyes and imagined himself _outside in the middle of the desert, surrounded by nothing but sand as far as the eye could see. Nobody for miles except for himself and his sensei._

_They were sparring, and their speed made their movements nearly invisible to the naked eye. The average fighter had nothing on these warriors. Shinji and his teacher traded blows back and forth, alternating between feet and elbows, fists and knees. Shinji found an opening and advanced, but his teacher saw it coming._

_His open palm strike missed by a hair's breadth, and Shinji felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. His center of gravity was dragged over backwards, and then he felt the air pressure around him drop as his body was lobbed into the air. He tumbled through the air, doing his best to right himself against the turbulence._

_He righted himself at the last moment and turned to face his opponent from the air. He was met by a small volley of ki blasts, each arching from one central point on the landscape below. They began exploding around him, and soon he was lost in the smoke of their discharge._

_As the dust cleared, Shinji's form was nowhere to be seen. His sensei scratched his head looking around for the student he was supposed to be training. Finding nobody in the immediate area, he spun on his heels to walk away._

_He was met with a face-full of ki energy, produced by Shinji's own hand. The blast slammed into the teacher's face, sending the man backwards and sliding through the dirt on his back. Shinji immediately took a defensive pose, ready to react to anything his teacher might throw at him. Nothing came from the crater his sensei had created except for laughter._

"_That was good, Shinji. Always keep your opponent guessing," his teacher called, while his silhouette finally rose from the dust."Beware, though, that you don't spend too much time thinking about your riddles. Intellectuals have no-"_

"_-place on the battlefield. I know, sensei. I am well awake and aware," Shinji interrupted._

"_Make sure you're awake off the battlefield too, Shinji. There is more to your new story than meets the eye. Now, again."_

_The night sky once again lit up with the bright flashes of ki and the cries of two warriors in battle. Shinji continued his frenzied screams until long into the night, long after he had lost his voice. A new hunger was awake within his heart, one he could not hope to fill with battle alone._


	4. Chapter 3

"Recovery of Unit 01 has been completed on schedule," Misato's voice rang through the speaker of the radio. "Cleanup has commenced, though I'm not entirely sure where we're going to put all this Angel blood."

"On a happier note, our pilot seems to have finally awoken," Ritsuko's voice answered back.

"Does he remember much of anything?"

"He remembers the battle, if only from the way it's made his body feel. He's made us all aware of that. He's eaten half the rations of the entire hospital!"

Misato sighed. "Your flair for exaggeration has improved. I suppose I'll go pick him up."

–

Shinji moaned in satisfaction as he set his plate down. Seven servings in and the boy was finally satisfied. Sure, the food served here was horribly bland, but if one ate enough of it, it would still serve its purpose.

He was redressing when Misato poked her head in. She mentioned something about leaving the hospital, to which Shinji adamantly agreed. He was getting tired of the white walls and depressing air that seemed to accompany the dull sound of air conditioning. Misato withdrew from the room, but not before staring long and hard at Shinji's half naked form.

Shinji already knew. Nobody said anything, but the way they looked at him when he was around them told him all he needed to know. He put the black slacks and white shirt that he was wearing before back on, but made a mental note to find something a bit more relaxed and... _familiar_ to wear before long.

Satisfied with his appearance, Shinji stepped out of his room. He shut the door behind him and leaned against the wall to the left of it, next to Misato. He breathed in deep and thought about what he wanted to say, but the sound of a cart rolling down the hall towards them interrupted him. Three doctors were moving a body down the ward, and as they passed, Shinji caught the eye of Rei Ayanami. In the split second the two faced each other, Shinji felt felt a power unlike anything he had ever felt before, even greater than the Angel.

It worried him.

Rei's stretcher carried on down the hall, and Shinji sighed. He stuck his hands in his pockets and turned to Misato.

"I'm ready to leave now."

Misato nodded. "We'll take the elevator."

They walked down the hall and stopped at the elevator doors, pressed the down arrow, and waited for them to open. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, and there stood Gendo in all his stone-faced glory. The two males stared each other down, unflinching, unmoving, their eyes piercing daggers into each other. Only when the doors began to shut did Shinji make a move, so fast that none of their eyes could follow him. Gendo keeled over in the elevator holding his gut while the doors shut in front of him, while Shinji crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. Misato just stood there, mouth agape.

"You... hit him?" Misato couldn't believe what she hadn't seen. "You must really hate your father."

"That _man_," Shinji spat, "is _not_ my father. He's just the sperm donor."

"You look just like him," Misato continued. "The dark hair, the complexion, the stern glance. I can see him in you in everything except..." She faltered.

"Except the tail?" Shinji asked.

Misato nodded. "Except the tail. Are you not human?"

Shinji shrugged. "I never thought much about it. I was raised by a clan of martial artists who all had tails. They called themselves Saiyans, said they hailed from a planet of warriors that was blown up years and years ago. Their leader was a strong man named Goten. He said he was a hybrid of a human and a Saiyan, and he taught me skills that I never would have thought possible. But as far as whether or not I'm human?" Shinji shrugged.

Misato pondered for a moment. Shinji just _had_ to be human, at least in part. The EVA wouldn't work for him if he wasn't.

"Anyway, why does it matter?"Shinji said. "I'm here, your machine works for me, and I can fight your Angels. What does it matter if I'm human or not?" He sighed. "Lets get outta here. I'm hungry and bored and in dire need of sleep in a place that isn't white."

–

Maybe it was the fact that the boy seemed so angry and unpredictable, or maybe Misato was feeling particularly daring, but the woman decided that Shinji would be much better off living with her than living by himself. Last minute plans were made, and a change in address was given to the delivery men for Shinji's stuff. The most troublesome of this split-decision was the phone call to Ritsuko explaining why Misato was going to be off the radar for the remainder of the day. Ritsuko's diatribe left Misato's ears ringing for hours afterwards.

Once the boy had been outprocessed from the hospital, the two loaded into Misato's car and began the long drive home. They stopped at a roadside store and made a few purchases of the microwave variety, and Shinji used what little pocket money he had to buy a fifty pound bag of rice. When questioned, he stated that he never did like instant food very much, and would prefer to eat rice and soy over 'that disgusting slop'.

Once the various vittles were piled high in the trunk of Misato's Renault, the two resumed their journey home. Talk was minimal at best, with Misato going on and on about her history in the military and with NERV, and Shinji just nodding and giving affirmative grunts.

They came up over a hill overlooking the city of Tokyo-3 and Misato pulled the car over. "Get out of the car for a moment, Shinji," she said. "I want to show you something."

The two stepped from the vehicle and stood side by side against a guardrail. The city of Tokyo-3 lay sprawled out before them, looking small and defenseless in the fading light of the sunset. Shinji closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, letting the smells of the mountains surrounding him wash over him completely.

"It's time," he heard Misato say, and he opened his eyes.

A siren rang up from the valley below, blasting loudly through the air. Shinji watched as the entire city started moving, rising slowly into the air. His eyes widened in awe at the majesty of the man-made city. Misato saw his reaction and smiled.

"This is Tokyo-3, Shinji; a fortress created by humans to withstand the attacks of the Angels. This is the city _you_ defended."

Shinji pondered for a second, then frowned. "Wait. Built to withstand the attacks? You mean you _knew_ these monsters would come here?!"

Misato stayed silent. This young man was far more perceptive than she had anticipated.

"How many more monsters are going to attack here? How many more times am I going to have to fight to defend this place?"

Misato sighed. "What you fought last night was an Angel known as Sachiel. He was the third of thirteen Angels set to attack this place." She took a breath. "We don't know when they will attack, or how; only that they will, and only one at a time."

"Well good," said Shinji as sarcastically as he could muster. "One by one they follow through, like lambs to the slaughter. Oh wait, that's us."

"I meant to cheer you up by bringing you here, Shinji," Misato retorted.

"Oh, you cheered me up. I see my playing field now. I see how much I have to lose should I ever fail in any of my battles. I see how much I might have to destroy should another Angel attack the city. And I see the idiocy of my father, who has obviously built this city as a fortress not to defend the Earth against the Angels, but to _hide something_ from the Angels."

"Your father isn't-" Misato started, but Shinji interrupted her.

"-hiding anything? Right." Shinji sighed. "When it all comes to light and you find yourself questioning the side you work for, I'll be there with a great big 'I told you so'."

"Alright, Shinji," Misato replied. "Now let's go home before more of my good plans blow up in my face."

The two returned to the car and drove away from the view in silence, the city's tall buildings receding into the distance for a time. The sun was completely set by the time the duo made it back to Misato's apartment. The two climbed the stairs carrying the items purchased earlier, neither of them talking to the other very much. When they arrived at Misato's front door, the captain spoke up.

"This is your home now, Shinji. To be honest, I've been wanting a roommate for a while. Please don't make me regret it."

Shinji only chuckled, but remained motionless when the door finally slid open and Misato stepped in. Misato stopped in the foyer when she realized her new houseguest hadn't moved. "You can come in now, Shinji."

"Are you sure, Misato? This _is_ your last chance to get rid of me."

"I'm sure, Shinji," came the reply.

Shinji stepped forward over the threshold and stood still, breathing in the smells of the new house. It smelled of sweat, dust, alcohol, and fish. There was also another smell that Shinji couldn't quite place, but it reminded him of feathers. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. "I'm home."

Misato smiled as well. "Welcome home." She handed Shinji her portion of the load of groceries and shuffled off to her room. "Could you put the food away in the fridge, Shinji? I need to go change into something a bit more comfy. And don't mind the mess; I haven't had much time to clean the place up."

Shinji gave an affirmative grunt and headed for the kitchen, looking at the piles of trash and dirty clothes strewn about the place. He rolled his eyes, thinking to himself about how much this lady reminded him of a college freshman. He wasn't surprised when he got to the fridge, either.

He opened the first door. "Ice..." He reached the second door. "Snacks..." And finally, the third door. "And nothing but beer. No wonder she's so high strung." He shrugged, putting away the food they had bought and finding a place for his big bag of rice. There was a second box in the corner of the kitchen area that looked odd, but Shinji thought nothing of it, and ignored it while he began picking up the trash that littered the apartment.

The house was spotless in less than fifteen minutes, and he heard Misato gasp in surprise when she finally came out of her room. She was provocatively dressed in a yellow tank top and a pair of shorts that barely covered her most private areas. He wasn't sure the woman realized he was only fifteen.

"You didn't have to clean the place, Shinji!" Misato exclaimed. "It's almost as clean as when I moved in!"

Shinji chuckled. "A clean house is a healthy house. Besides, if you start with a clean slate, it's easier to stay motivated. So... what slop would you like to start with for dinner?"

Misato rolled her eyes.

The two split up dinner duty, and within half an hour there was an absolute feast on the table fit for a college dorm. The two sat down and gave thanks, then dug into their food with vigor. Conversation continued between the various slurps and gulps, and Shinji amazed Misato with how much food he could put down. He even managed to get a beer from her, which he drowned with the finesse of an experienced alcoholic.

Once dinner was done, the two cleaned up and sat down to split up chores via rock-paper-scissors. Shinji, on purpose, got everything except bathroom cleaning duty and laundry, but he half expected to be doing those things as well.

"You live here now, Shinji, so feel free to take advantage of everything here. Well, everything except me, of course." Misato closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the boy, and Shinji chuckled in response.

"That was a freebie, Misato. Stick your tongue out at me again and you're liable to lose it."

"Geez, you're so uptight. Why don't you go get a bath, Shinji? Loosen up those muscles, and that attitude, too."

Shinji rose from the table and made his way to the bathroom. He stripped in the hallway and put his clothes in the dirty laundry, then took a deep breath and opened the washroom door.

A penguin spazzed in front of him, agitated. Shinji spazzed right back. The two engaged in a small shouting match that lasted a couple minutes, and ended when the penguin darted in between Shinji's legs and snapped at his tail. Shinji shouted in pain and whipped his tail towards the wall, sending the penguin flying through the air and directly into Misato's arms.

"You blasted bird! How could you?!" Shinji held his tail and inspected the damage. Then he glared at Misato and the penguin.

Misato looked thoughtful. "You just startled him, Shinji. This is PenPen, your other roommate. He's one of those nifty warm-water penguins. He sleeps in the other fridge."

PenPen squawked at Shinji, and Shinji growled at the bird. "You touch my tail again and we'll be having PenPen steaks for dinner."

Misato sighed. "You'll learn to get along. Now, shouldn't you cover yourself, Shinji?"

Shinji chuckled. "What, afraid you might like what you see?"

Misato guffawed and turned multiple shades of red while Shinji retreated into the washroom to take his bath. He filled the tub with hot water and eased himself into it, then relaxed. He let the steam fill his senses, closed his eyes, and fell into a meditative trance.

"_Stars," _he thought. _"Stars, as far as the eyes can see. Mountains topped with green. A vast expanse of green grass and hills. I float. My muscles relax. My mind fills with calm. I am aware, alone, alert. Calm. Calm. Calm..." _He counted the seconds as they drifted past him in the bath. Shinji concentrated on everything except the battle he fought the previous night. The time for battle would come again, but for now, there was calm.

Half an hour later, Shinji was done with his bath and dressed for bed. His mind was empty, and he spent another half an hour arranging what few belongings he owned in the space he was given. There was more than enough room for his bedroll, his training gis, and the several weapons he had been gifted through his life.

Finally satisfied with how everything was arranged, he spent some time practicing some martial arts.

–

Misato settled into her bath, relaxing. She pondered the events from the past couple of days, including the talks she'd had with her new roommate. The boy was far more self-reliant and bold than she had been lead to believe. All the reports on the Third Child had been written as if the boy was a weakling, yet here was this strong, intelligent, and conniving young man. No mention of a tail, no mention of any kind of fighting expertise. She would be convinced that he was an impostor if not for the fact that he synced _so well_ with his EVA the first time out.

"_Maybe the boy is right," _she began to think. _"There's more to this than the commander is letting on. Something else is at work here."_

When Misato was done, she wrapped a towel around her body and walked towards Shinji's room. She knocked on the door and let him know she was coming in. She stopped in her tracks when the door slid open and she saw that he was in the middle of a shadow boxing ritual. She couldn't follow his movements, they flew so fast. She waited for him to finish, then let him know she was on her way to bed, and that he should be headed in the same direction. School started the next day.

"You did a good job yesterday, Shinji," she said, "but don't let it go to your head. You've got a long road ahead of you."

"Yes, ma'am," Shinji answered, bowing. "Thank you for allowing me into your home."

Misato smiled. "The pleasure is mine. Good night, Shinji."

"Good night, Misato."

Misato went to her room, and Shinji closed his door. The two settled into their respective beds, ready for a good night's sleep.


	5. Chapter 4

Shinji sat in the pilot's seat of the EVA model, dressed in something that the scientists called a Plug Suit. He felt somehow more naked with it on than he did when actually naked. Not to mention, the suit didn't have any room for his tail. It was uncomfortable to have it trapped against him at all times.

"Good morning, Shinji," he heard the voice of Dr. Akagi echo through the speakers in the drone. I trust you had a pleasant sleep?"

"It was fine, ma'am," Shinji replied. "Can't complain."

"That's good to hear. Did you happen to look over the information we've given you about offense versus the Angels?"

"I glanced over it, yes," he replied.

"Well, then let's review. An Angel is driven by a central power source we've dubbed it's Core. This is also the critical hit point of the enemy, and as far as we can tell, destroying the core is the only way to kill it. Now, con-"

"But," Shinji interrupted, "seeing as how you haven't had the opportunity to experiment with alternative methods of killing an Angel, that's a moot point."

Dr. Akagi cleared her throat. "Now is not the time for being a smartass.

"Now, contemporary military hardware has been seen to do little damage to an Angel, but N2 mines have moderate stopping power. The last Angel saw an interruption (in its advance) of thirteen hours for healing after having an N2 mine detonated directly underneath it.

"The artillery developed for the EVA is a very large, hollow point round to be delivered from a size-modified M4. It is only effective when your AT Field is active.

"For now, we will review accuracy-"

Shinji had to interrupt again. "I'm a hand-to-hand fighter. I've spent my whole life learning to fight an opponent face to face, not at range. And even if I did know how to use a rifle, this 'seat' is very uncomfortable and unnatural. I want to stand. I want to hold something solid in my hands."

"That is nice and all, but you're talking about a huge injury risk. A setup like that doesn't give the pilots any protection."

"So you can't give me some kind of vault or chamber set on a gyroscope, filled with LCL, and something built into the plug suit that the EVA could read? Maybe a mimicry option?" He sighed. "I have the will for control. But if I could stand, I wouldn't need all the extra protection. The Angels wouldn't have a chance to bang me around that bad."

Dr. Akagi was silent for a moment. "I'll run it by the commander. For now, stick with what we've got. I want you to immerse yourself in the simulation. Using the aiming reticle, I want you to center on the target and pull the trigger."

Shinji settled in, aimed at the electronic rendition of the monster he'd already faced, and pulled the trigger. It exploded into a massive collection of pixels, much easier than the beatdown he had to give it the other night. "This would be effective if all the Angels were exactly the same."

"Who says they're not?" fired the Doctor.

"Who says they are?" he fired back. "It's been my experience that the enemy never gets any harder; just different. So change up my enemy. Its form. Its weak spot location. The amount of protection. Its weapon. Give me a challenge."

Dr. Akagi sighed. This time the boy had a point. She started barking out orders to change the simulation accordingly.

**-TWO DAYS LATER-**

"My name is Shinji Ikari, and I will be joining this class." Shinji stood in front of the class of children, and bowed respectfully. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks, with a tucked-in a white button-down shirt, and he found them stuffy and restricting. Not to mention, he had to keep his tail curled around his waist and tucked under his shirt.

"Welcome, Shinji," a tall, auburn-headed girl said. "My name is Hikari Horaki, and I am the representative of this class. If you have any questions or any problems, please do not hesitate to ask for help from myself."

Shinji nodded and looked around, trying to find a seat that would keep him away from most of the other students. He found himself a seat near the back of the class and faced forward. The teacher, a white-haired, bespectacled older gentleman, took center stage at the head of the class and began his lecture. Shinji was instantly bored.

The man's voice droned on and on about the subject of Second Impact, and about how it decimated the planet and killed off over half its population. While he understood the theories behind Second Impact, Shinji knew far more about the real truth; Second Impact was caused by a gigantic monster of light.

His sensei had told him stories about the battle. His sensei's father, a full-blooded Saiyan named Goku, had challenged the beast to battle, but the being had flat-out ignored him. A combined assault by Goku and his band of warrior friends and family had done nothing to halt the beast's progress, and when it self-detonated, it took out everything. Goku, his friends, his entire world; all of it dissolved into chaos, and death, and red.

Goten had been left at home to take care of his mother on her deathbed. The loss of her husband had been what finally killed her. She died of a broken heart. Goten blamed the entirety of Second Impact on the being of light and the failure of Goku's assault.

Shinji pretty much ignored the teacher and stared out the window, letting his mind wander. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned. A message had popped up on the computer screen attached to his desk.

'Are you the pilot of that big robot thing? Y/N'

Shinji pondered. On the one hand, nobody outside of NERV was supposed to know about the EVA, or even the battle that had taken place. On the other hand, this was a chance to bring attention to himself, and launch him to the top of the popularity pole.

He was still thinking over his answer when the classroom door slid open and a black-haired male teen walked through. He was dressed in an outfit reminiscent of an athlete; a black jumpsuit with a white shirt underneath, and white sneakers. He stood out from the rest of the class like a sore thumb.

"You're late, Toji," Horaki said, giving the boy a glare that could be felt throughout the room.

"I was at the hospital visiting my sister," Toji replied, taking his seat.

Shinji took a deep breath and gave his answer, pressing the 'Y' on his keyboard and hitting enter. In a flash, the entire class was on their feet and surrounding the new kid, pestering him with questions about the technical specs of the robot and what it felt like to drive it and could he divulge what he was supposed to be doing in it? The instant popularity was completely foreign to the boy who had spent the better part of the last ten years fighting in the desert.

While Horaki was busy trying to get the class to calm down and return to their seats, Shinji noticed Toji giving him an evil eye. The eye continued through the rest of class and on until the end of school, when Toji followed him into the courtyard. Shinji was meditating when Toji stepped in front of him.

"Hey, new kid."

Shinji opened his eyes in time to see a fist flying at his face. He cocked his head to the side and Toji's fist missed him by centimeters, which shocked the bully. He lost his balance and toppled over Shinji's shoulder.

"Yes, old kid?" Shinji did his best to be polite while at the same time mocking the boy for trying to start something with him.

Toji scrambled to his feet and brought his hands up like a boxer. "Sorry, new kid, but I have to pummel you. You gotta learn your place."

Another kid stepped out from behind Toji and introduced himself as Kensuke. He apologized for the teen. "His kid sister's been in the hospital ever since the robot attack, and it looks like she may never leave."

Shinji shrugged. "If you feel like you have to pummel me for her stupidity, go right ahead. I won't stop you."

Toji growled and threw punch after punch at Shinji's face, and each one missed as Shinji dodged them expertly. Toji continued to grow angrier and angrier as each perfectly aimed punch seemed to catch air every time. He finally stopped, walking off in a huff.

Shinji sighed. "Maybe next time she'll get to her designated shelter, eh, Toji?"

Toji stopped and turned around. Shinji rose from his spot and crossed his arms over his chest. "Nobody else is in the hospital from the attack," Shinji continued, "so logic dictates that your sister was where she should not have been."

Toji stomped over to Shinji and threw one more punch, and Shinji let it hit him. The fist landed dead center in Shinji's face, but the boy never moved. Toji withdrew his hand and cradled it, tears forming in his eyes. His knuckles were turning purple.

"You might want to get that checked. You may have broken it." Shinji turned back to his meditating while the older teen walked off, his pride bruised worse than his hand.

**A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER**

"Fifteen minutes ago, we got our first sighting of the Angel. It is headed for Tokyo-3 from the direction of Tokyo-2, and military resources have already been exhausted trying to slow its advance. It's too close to the city to use an N2 mine," reported Misato to the pilots and the commander," and the military is ordering the immediate deployment of an EVA."

Shinji snickered. Nobody had to tell him to engage the Angel; he already knew NERV would deploy the EVA, whether the military wanted them to or not. He had a feeling that NERV was in a class all its own, and they generally answered to nobody. They just feigned obedience.

"Rei, you're on standby. Your EVA-00 hasn't been released from stasis, but should anything go really wrong, we may have to drop you into the warzone.."

"Yes, ma'am," Rei answered.

"Shinji, you will be deployed inside the city. To your immediate right will be a weapons cache- take the gun you are sent and engage the target. Remember, center your target with the aiming reticle and pull the switch. If you fire too early, you're liable to lose your target in the smoke," Dr. Akagi gave Shinji a few last minute pointers.

"Yes. Because this Angel is going to be affected so easily by artillery when I nearly had to tear the last one apart limb from limb."

Misato sighed, placing her palm against her forehead. "Shinji, just do what you're told. If the weapon doesn't work, then go ahead and do what you do best. But we need you to use the weapon first."

Dr. Akagi backed her friend. "Lieutenant Katsuragi is correct. We need the data from the battle. Use the modified rifle, and when you're _certain_ that it isn't doing any good, victory will be on you."

"Have you given any thought to my request," Shinji asked. He was getting tired of sitting in the seat.

"We have a project in the works now," Dr. Akagi answered. "The Commander thought it was a good idea. We'll have to find some way to protect your body from the impacts of fighting, but we think we'll have a testable system within a month's time."

"Enough chatter! You'll have plenty of time to talk about this when you get back, Shinji, but for now we need to deploy an EVA and take out the target." Misato was getting a little antsy.

"Ready to go, Misato! Just give the word."


End file.
